Editing

Saturday I mentioned that I have three new stories coming out this summer with Totally Bound. That means I'm in the editing mode as I write this.


I love my editor for many reasons. One of them is that she won't let me get away with repeating pet phrases or starting sentences with the same word over and over and over ad nauseum.


I'm particularly appreciative of it at this moment as I'm reading a really popular novel (I won't mention names) that starts almost every sentence with one of three words: I, My, He.


I counted at least four eye rolls in less than one chapter.


Oh my!


Maybe it's because I'm hypersensitive to it while I'm in the middle of eliminating repeat phrases and trying to come up with more imaginative descriptions, or maybe it bothers other readers too. I found myself counting how many eye rolls there were, which unfortunately, pulled me out of the story.


Do you notice things like this?


Do they make you pause?


Ashley

Sayonara Baby!

Yesterday, I received my third edit from my newest publisher. I thought I was done with edits except for maybe a few pesky line edits.

Sigh. Not so.

That's okay. It's all part of the job. I can and will do it.

The thrust of this edit is my hero's speech patterns. His sentences and his thoughts are too long, like a woman's. I have to go through every line of his dialogue and his thoughts and make them shorter, more masculine. Although my editor didn't say this, it makes me think of Arnold's dialogue as The Terminator.

Maybe it's a coincidence that I happen to be watching the original movie, The Terminator, as I write this article. Maybe watching this movie made my editor's words gel.

Of course each character is different. At least they're supposed to be. In many past manuscripts I've agaonezed over each piece of dialogue to the point past editors said I went overboard. So I have to find a happy medium it seems.

But let's look at some of Arnold's short, to the point phrases:


"I'll be back." (He calmly walks out then crashes back in with a speeding car.)

"Hasta la vista, baby."

"Where is she?" 

"Fuck you, asshole."

"Get out."

"Talk to the hand."

Most of his sentences are less than four words. In subsequent movies when he's learning to be more human, his sentences only lengthen a tiny bit.



Even The Terminator knows to change his speech patterns when he imitates Sarah's mother to trick her, and John's foster mother to try to trick him. The speech pattern is completely different.

Don't worry. I don't want my sexy small-town sheriff to sound like The Terminator, the good or bad version, but it gives me insight. Hopefully, the heroes in the 40 plus books I've already written (and are published) don't sound like their heroines or a heroine. I didn't think so at the time and I'm a little scared to look back to see.


There's so much to learn and with each new editor, even each new edit from a returning editor, I learn something new. At the beginning of my career, I would have thought after 40 or 50 books under my belt, I'd be an expert at every nuance of the writing game. Obviously not. But we can always learn, always get better as long as we live.

So don't worry. I'll do as my editor wisely suggests, and I'll be back, baby.

You have to see thius Terminator clip I found when I was looking for the other one. It's hilarious.

This one has the embedding disabled, so click on the link to go to it if so inclined to have a good laugh:

"Sayonara Baby"

Recent posts you might like to read:


Don't Bomb Your Audience With Turkeys

Are You Writing Me Into Your Book?

Dont Give Up Too Early

Kenzie Michaels Guest Interview
Twitter Works Do You Really Want To Post That?

 

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook,
Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch,
Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape
are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Computer serial killer? Or nervous breakdown?

I claimed I was going to be more transparent about the writing process - for me, anyway. I'm pretty sure a lot of it is personal and therefor unique for every writer. Of course, lots of things are the same, too. Maybe I'm crazy to mention this, or maybe I'm just plain crazy, but I had a bit of a mental breakdown recently. It wasn't a complete breakdown about everything. I got very nervous about a particular edit. It seemed like it was doomed. You know how my family swears I'm a computer serial killer - as in I kill defenseless laptops. I swear it's not on purpose but I'm beginning to believe I'm the Bermuda Triangle of computers. I flubbed on an edit from a brand new editor and brand new company (for me). So I got an email paraphrased like this: "Why would you do this?!?" That freaked me out. Literally. I didn't mean to do anything wrong, but I obviously had missed some stuff. Why, I'm not sure. So I was given another month to fix and return the edit again. But I was totally spazzing out. I felt like I was having a nervous breakdown every time I went to work on it. I'd force myself to do it, and then, the Bermuda Triangle struck again. I had a lot of work done, and my computer died before I had a chance to save it to a thumb drive or send it to myself on AOL. I hated to redo all that work when I truly believed I'd get my computer back in a few days. But a few days kept dragging out. When it finally returned, the repair company had wiped out my Word program. My husband and my son thought this free similar program would be okay so they didn't have to pay a mint for Word again (the repair company should've replaced Word or so my hubby claimed but they wouldn't). So, I opened my file on this new similar program. I couldn't see the Track Changes. And it added junk. So now, I was really freaking out and I begged hubby and DS1 to get me real Word YESTERDAY! Unfortunately, they took a couple more weeks. Remember when I got pneumonia and I couldn't do anything except throw up and have cold sweats? Yep, that was in the middle of all this as well. I was so weak for a month I could barely sit up or read or do anything. Finally, I thought I could get back into this edit. I slaved over it all one day, determined to get it done and back to my editor even though I was in dire fear she'd say she no longer wanted the book and wanted nothing more to do with me. Guess what? Yep, the computer died again! This time the monitor burned out as I was editing, before I could save my redone edits to my thumb drive or email it to myself (I never did get those lousy characters out or get Track Changes back so I had to start from scratch anyway). That was another couple weeks to wait for the new monitor to come in the mail and then for DS1 to install it. So, a one month edit took me months. I'm usually not like that. I've returned edits in a day and usually in a week. To say 2009's been lousy and I've been under a ton of other stress that may have contributed is an understatement. But that shouldn't matter. I'm supposed to be a professional. Somehow I managed to stay professional and hold things together for the day job. But that drained me so much I was dying by the time I finally made it home. Still... However, even though I'm a professional writer, and even though I know excuses are lame, I am at the end of the day human. Sometimes I falter no matter how hard I try to hold things together. I wasn't going to mention this. There seems to be an unwritten code among writers: don't talk about royalties - how many books sold or $ - and don't talk about things like this. But that reminds me of another organization I was in that controlled people by telling them "Fake it 'til you make it" and never talk about what's really going on in your business lest you scare others away. That sending out that was insidious mind control - they didn't want their reps comparing notes and finding out everybody was getting screwed over so they could keep screwing them over. Honesty's good. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Editing

Like yesterday, my blog posts for the next few days are inspired by the movie “Julie and Julia”. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that Julia Child and her co-authors were not happy when their editors asked them to make big changes in their cook book. They said goodbye to the publisher and took their book elsewhere. How realistic is that? Oh, I’m sure other authors have done that and still do it. But is it RIGHT? I don’t know that it’s exactly WRONG, but every editor, every publisher I’ve ever worked with requires edits. Some more than others. It seems childish of me to take your toy and run to another playground just because the publisher wants changes. Julia Child got lucky that they found another publisher that wanted their book as is. However, I give Julia and company credit for having tested each recipe and rewritten the book at least once in the beginning. For those who are just beginning the writing journey or who haven’t tried yet, that’s par for the course. Sometimes we have to rewrite our books at least once and edit several times. Even though three of my books were edited by their first publisher and had been previously released, the second publisher who re-released them still required more edits. For better or worse, edits are part of the package. I used to hate edits. Ask my critique partners. I’m still not in love with them but see the merit and opportunity to really polish and perfect my stories. I try to make the process fun now.

Multi-tasking vs. getting overwhelmed

Last week, one of my co-workers told me I'm a great multi-tasker. That's one of the benefits of being ADHD. My mind can't function on just one thing at a time. Maybe on one huge project, but I still have to have a lot of little things going on simultaneously. Like right now, I'm writing this blog and watching TV. I'm not paying much attention to the TV but I need something in the background to listen to and glance at occasionally. Something I don't have to answer. Usually, I agree. I'm a great multi-tasker. Until I get way too much to do. Like this past month. I had 3 edits and two stories to finish writing. My friends and family asked me why I planned so badly. Well, edits come when they come. I was waiting on one edit for three years. The other I was waiting on for 6 months. I, gulp, forgot about the story due to write. That was my fault. As per the edits, that's just how the planets aligned. Meanwhile, the daughter's playing on two softball teams so she has games and or practice almost every day of the week. I've been involved in a couple big projects at the day job so I've been staying until 6 and even 7 pm nightly. So I've gone beyond merely multi-tasking to being overwhelmed. Or I was. I handed int he first round of edits on the final edit due. I handed in my stories. I finished my big project at work. I stayed home from the day job today to rest up from my fall this weekend. I've been in bed catching up on much needed rest since Saturday. Now I've gone to the flip side and I'm getting antsy. I'm ready to get up and out and play or work or do anything but stay in bed another damn minute! I feel human again - almost. Just don't look at my black and blue back. The doctor today said it looks to be healing well and I should get the stitches taken out next Monday. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Thursday Thirteen - Things I do (or don't do) when I'm tired or depressed and duh, Mother's Day!

I'm still beat, I presume from my weekend away, and now doing a lot of overtime at work, and cleaning up after our men since we've been home. Why do they never keep the house clean? My dad and my oldest son are just the opposite - clean freaks to the point they drive me crazy the other way. Anyway, here's a Thursday Thirteen list as I'm too tired to do much else. I did finish and return an edit to my editor and I worked a couple hours late at the day job, so I wasn't completely lazy tonight. But I didn't get to the gym like I wanted, and I haven't visited any other blogs and since it's Midnight, it's not going to happen tonight. I'll try to blog hop this weekend.

Thirteen Things about Ashley Ladd 1.... Curl up in bed and watch movies 2.... Eat too much - of bad things 3.... Rub my forehead - unconsciously 4.... Soak in the tub 5.... Make lists 6.... Blog too much 7.... Don't blog enough 8.... Play Scrabulous or word games 9.... Go to sleep way early or sleep in really really late 10... Don't exercise (like tonight - but I finished my edit and I worked late at the day job so I'm not too mad at myself) 11... Toss & turn - in particular because my legs are so restless 12... Cuddle with a cat or two 13... Stare at the computer in a daze Duh! It's almost Mother's Day - so here's another 13 things. These are things I remember about my mom whose been gone for 20 years. I miss her very much. 1... Her warm hugs 2... Her soft voice 3... How she took me everywhere with her 4... How she took care of her parents when they were ill for the last 2 years of their lives 5... How much she loved me 6... How she sent $1. bills to each of my kids and a short letter almost every day after she moved to another state 7... How she loved to watch westerns, especially John Wayne movies 8... She loved to eat potato chips, bread, and meat 9... She lived to sew, crochet, knit. She did alterations, tailoring, and bridal. She made a lot of my clothes. She always fixed every piece of clothing that tore. 10... She made my wedding gown - very beautiful 11... She sang to me before bed many a night - songs from the 30s and 40s like "Mersey Dotes" and "Paper Dolls" 12... She loved musicals and got me addicted to them - also to General Hospital 13... She loved history - probably why she loved westerns. She also had a recurring dream that she was a reincarnated member of the fated Donner Pass Party. She believed this so much and it bothered her so much, that she couldn't drive across the pass when she was going to California for my wedding, so she deserted my step father and took a plane over it and met him on the other side. What do you remember about your mother? Or what do you like best about her?

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